Residents displaced by Redwood City fire are among the 'most vulnerable,' county official says

By Bonnie Eslinger

Daily News Staff Writer

Posted:
07/10/2013 01:00:00 AM PDT

Updated:
07/10/2013 06:22:33 AM PDT

San Mateo County officials are scrambling to help residents of an affordable apartment complex in Redwood City destroyed in a fire early Sunday morning that claimed the life of one man.

"Unfortunately, many of the fire victims are among our most vulnerable population in the community, including residents with mental health issues, many seniors who are medically fragile, and low-income families who rely on Section 8 vouchers to provide them with housing assistance," Beverly Beasley Johnson, director of the county's Human Services Agency, told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. "The presence of the county will be needed long term for a variety of issues including, and most pressing, transitional housing."

The fire at the 72-unit Hallmark House Apartments at 531 Woodside Road displaced 97 tenants. On Tuesday, 26 of them were still bunked on cots inside an American Red Cross shelter set up at the National Guard Armory at 939 Valota Road in Redwood City, according to Pooja Trivedi, a spokeswoman for the organization.

Representatives from the county and other social service providers are at the shelter to ensure that the residents, many of them current clients, get needed medications and assistance, Beasley Johnson said.

"This population does not and is not doing well in a shelter environment," she said.

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Tenants in about 40 of Hallmarks' units were paying their rent with the help of public subsidies, Bill Lowell, director of the county's housing department, said in a phone interview Tuesday. He said about half were using Section 8 vouchers and the rest were supported through a program called Shelter Plus Care, which provides housing and supportive services for people with disabilities.

Finding new homes will be difficult in a region already known for high rents and limited affordable housing.

"It's hard for people without rental subsidies, but for Section 8 it's extra hard," Lowell said. "The simple answer is, it's very difficult. I don't have a good news piece here."

Edwin Chan, a spokesperson for the Human Services Agency, said all options are being explored to get displaced residents out of the shelter, including offering vouchers for motel stays.

Trivedi said the shelter won't stay open indefinitely, but no date has been set for closure.

"We're working to make sure the clients' needs are met," she said. "If not at the Red Cross Shelter, that they then have the resources to move on."

Today, the Red Cross is scheduled to hold a meeting at the Veterans Memorial Senior Center at 1455 Madison Ave. in Redwood City from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. to provide information on long-term housing options and other services, according to an announcement from Redwood City.

The Hallmark House Apartments are owned by KDF Communities, an affordable housing development company based in Newport Beach that received about $650,000 in financial assistance from Redwood City for the project, according to the city's community development department.

Gilbert Rodriguez, 53, a Hallmark House resident who is disabled and has bipolar disorder, said he was staying at the shelter for now because although he has family in the area no one has room for him. If worse comes to worst, he'll end up living out of his green Ford Explorer, he said.

"I have meds to take. I can't be on the streets," he said.

On Tuesday, the San Mateo County Coroner's Office was still trying to confirm the identity of a man who died in Sunday's fire.